Ironically, the date coincides with Presidents Day, the day the government combined George Washington's birthday with that of Abraham Lincoln so federal employees could get time off.

Some of you, most Illinoisans, may not consider Mr. Trump to be your president. You may revile him. You hope he will be impeached within two years, which, I am told, is even money in Vegas wire rooms. Or wish he will become a raving sot, even though he currently is a teetotaler. Or that Democrats will retake Congress in 2018.

Then there are those, mainly residing in Red States, who regard Trump as the GOP leader who has picked up the mantle of Ronald Reagan. One who will drain the Washington D.C. swamp and make America great again.

(Scott Stantis)

Who knows where he will carry Reagan's legacy? His backers believe he is the antithesis of the party of Republicans in name only. For eight years, his neo-Reaganite supporters were in the wilderness of American politics.

Now they are back with a vengeance and a confidence that they are so, so right in their ideas and what they plan to do during Trump's first four-year term. Yet, there's an old military adage that goes something like this: It's a strange thing about believing you can do no wrong. Pretty soon you do nothing but wrong.

In Trump's first 30 days, there has been a flurry of executive orders and directives, a scandal involving his national security adviser, a misstep involving his hastily drawn travel ban aimed at Muslims from seven countries, along with naming some odd and some say unqualified choices for cabinet posts. Congressional Democrats and media elites early on have been standing in opposition to the Trump administration to little avail.

Observing the past month, and the immediate reactions from the opposition to take to the streets, reminded me of Antoine de Saint-Exupery's description of a scene he observed during the Spanish Civil War. Saint-Exupery, a Frenchman best known for his book "The Little Prince," also was a philosopher, aviator and adventurer.

In his 1939 book about flying, "Wind, Sand and Stars," he relates that while in Madrid during the "Guerra Civil," he saw Spanish Nationalists, i.e., fascists, take into custody a Loyalist, who supported the nation's democratic government. The reason, he writes, was because "Your ideas were not our ideas."

Your ideas were not our ideas. It rings so true today as we teeter on this great political divide.

After two terms, Americans were getting used to the easy atmosphere of the Obama administration. Things seemed to be working out fine for all the snowflakes out there. The majority of the popular vote in 2016 expected Hillary Clinton to be elected and continue this 21st century era of good feeling.

As Adlai Stevenson II remarked about himself, a funny thing happened on the way to the presidency. He lost, as did she. That's why there is this extreme backlash against Trumpian policies. We didn't pay attention during the campaign because most of us thought Donald Trump would not and could not be elected president. But he was.

If we were listening, he is doing exactly what he said during all those campaign stops that he would do if elected. He pledged to deport more undocumented workers than President Obama, he vowed to build the great border wall, he promised to bring manufacturing jobs back to the Rust Belt, he was going to make America safe from foreign terrorists.

There's more in store. Don't let resistance fatigue get you down. As for the president's core, don't be so smug.

Charles Selle is a former News-Sun reporter, political editor and editor.